Welcome to another week. UK markets are back in action today after the (wet) bank holiday weekend.
We will have the first quarter results from BP shortly, but first we have the latest data on house prices from mortgage lender Halifax.
It showed that the average price of a home increased by 0.1pc between March and April to £288,949.
5 things to start your day
1) House prices to leap more than £60,000 over next five years | House price to rise more than £60,000 as interest rate pain eases
2) Labour will boost ‘appetite’ for London stock market, says City broker | Peel Hunt believes change of government will make UK investable again after a gloomy time for the stock market
3) Bud Light has promised to ‘stay in their lane’ after trans backlash | Brewer’s European boss has learned to keep contested issues away from beer
4) Royal Mail suitor Kretinsky is eyeing a bid for troubled French tech giant Atos | The “Czech Sphinx” is among the financiers vying to bail out troubled tech company
5) Russians launch package holidays to see Taylor Swift and Coldplay | Moscow was a key stop-off in pop stars’ tours before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine – now Russians are travelling to see them
What happened overnight
Asian markets were mostly higher after another day of gains on Wall Street, although Chinese shares faltered.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225, reopening after a national holiday, jumped 1.5pc to 38,784.91 and the Kospi in South Korea surged 1.9pc to 2,728.05.
The yen fell after Japan’s top currency official Masato Kanda said there was no need for the government to intervene if the market is functioning properly.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.9pc to 18,420.38 and the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1pc lower, to 3,136.62. Data on travel, retail spending and home sales during the weeklong Golden Week holidays showed persisting weakness in the economy.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.7pc to 7,739.00 ahead of a central bank decision on interest rates.
Taiwan’s Taiex was up 0.3pc, while India’s Sensex was nearly flat as the country began the third phase of its weeks’ long national elections process.
On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 1pc to 5,180.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5pc to 38,852.27, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.2pc to 16,349.25.
Tech stocks were at the forefront, with familiar ringleaders Nvidia and Super Micro Computer again pulling the market higher.
They have had a couple hiccups recently, but a frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology has Nvidia up 86.1pc for the year so far after Monday’s 3.8pc gain. Super Micro is up 192.1pc after its gain of 6.1pc.
